“At 15, we think that the only way to please a boy is to have a soft voice and a crystal-clear laugh”

A sensitive and uncomfortable teenager, Zaho de Sagazan has become an accomplished young woman. During a cross-interview given to Madame Figaroalongside Marina Foïs, the 25-year-old singer spoke about her relationship with femininity. “When you're 15, you have the impression that the only way to please a boy is to have a soft voice and a slightly crystalline laugh,” she explained. Very far from mine, then.”

In his youth, the interpreter of The Symphony of Lightning identified with women like Marina Foïs, with whom she now shares the role of ambassador for Louis Vuitton. “She and I share a pretty similar femininity. When I was younger and struggling with my femininity, seeing women like her on screen reassured me. I didn't see myself in actresses like Catherine Deneuve, who I find sublime. Her classic, perfect beauty is very far from my slightly hard look, my drooping eyelids, my deep voice… Marina made me realize that having a dog was really interesting.”

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A teenager like no other

As a teenager, Zaho de Sagazan never felt like other girls her age. “I was 13 years old, I wasn’t doing well at that time,” she already confided in the columns of Madame Figaro in February 2024. Before adding: “I had stopped dancing, which I had been practicing assiduously for seven years, suddenly no longer finding any interest in it. I had gained a lot of weight and I cried very often. I was self-conscious about my body, about my voice, which was a little strange, hoarse and unfeminine, which didn't appeal to boys.”

Despite her torments as a young girl, Zaho de Sagazan found an escape in music. She discovered sources of inspiration, with whom she could identify. “When writing the songs, I had tutelary figures behind me as inspiring muses: Brel and Barbara, Stromae and Kraftwerk, in music, Hayao Miyazaki and Xavier Dolan in cinema.” As she grew up, the singer made peace with her: “The 13-year-old Zaho, I look at her today with a lot of tenderness.”